SEATTLE and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Nov. 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immune Design (Nasdaq:IMDZ), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on oncology, today announced seven presentations at the upcoming Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meetings to be held in Maui, Hawaii from November 8-11 and in National Harbor, Maryland, from November 8-12, 2017 respectively.

Interim analysis (n=36) in the randomized Phase 2 study showed patients receiving the combination of CMB305 and atezolizumab experienced greater clinical benefit and immune response than those who received atezolizumab alone, notwithstanding that patients in the combination arm had more advanced disease.

The trend of greater clinical benefit on the combination arm remained consistent in the full study population (n=88), including partial responses on the combination arm and none on the atezolizumab-only arm.

Despite a poorer prognosis expected in patients with tumors with high levels of NY-ESO-1 expression, patients with high expression levels treated with either LV305 or CMB305 had a trend toward improved clinical outcomes as compared to those in the lower quartiles.

Immune response and long term overall survival data in 24 sarcoma patients, who have received multiple lines of therapy and have been followed for at least two years, shows a median progression free survival of 4.67 months and a median overall survival that has not yet been reached.

These data extend previously published observations of an association of NY-ESO-1- specific, shared TCR Vβ-CD3 sequences with survival in NY-ESO-1-expressing cancer patients.

The findings may support use of public TCR as a vaccine response biomarker for NY-ESO-1 cancer patients that could augment or replace established, yet more cumbersome, T-cell ELISPOT assays.

About Immune Design

Immune Design is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company employing next-generation in vivo approaches to enable the body's immune system to fight disease. The company's technologies are engineered to activate the immune system's natural ability to generate and/or expand antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells, while also enhancing other immune effectors, to fight cancer and other chronic diseases. CMB305 and G100, the two leading product candidates focused in cancer immunotherapy, are the first products from Immune Design's two separate discovery platforms targeting dendritic cells in vivo, ZVex® and GLAAS® the fundamental technologies of which were licensed from the California Institute of Technology and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), respectively. Both ZVex and GLAAS also have potential applications in infectious disease and allergy as demonstrated by ongoing pharmaceutical collaborations. Immune Design has offices in Seattle and South San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.immunedesign.com.

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